Governor Seyi Makinde has berated President Bola Tinubu’s administration for failing to provide detailed information on the average costs of the ongoing Lagos-Calabar Highway.
Speaking at the Stakeholders’ Consultative and Engagement Meeting on the 2026 Budget for the state in Ibadan on Thursday, Mr Makinde accused works minister David Umahi of dancing around when asked for the project’s average cost per kilometre.
“Asked a minister how much is the coastal road and then you’re (the minister) dancing around going to say next kilometre is different from next kilometre? Then what is the average cost?” the governor stated.
Detailing the average costs of the infrastructural projects undertaken by his administration, Mr Makinde said, “We are growing rapidly because we are deliberate in our developmental model. When we came, we tried to stop rural-urban migration, and the first contract we awarded as an administration is Moniya to Iseyin. It was 65 kilometres awarded for 10 billion. It is a very simple translation. 65 divided by 10 billion; that’s about 153 million a kilometre.”
The Oyo governor explained that providing the analysis was not rocket science, as the infrastructural project was anchored on a specific budget.
“When we did Oyo to Iseyin, it was almost 10 billion as well, but this time around 34 or 35 kilometres. The average cost is 238 million per kilometre,” said Mr Makinde. “When we did Iseyin to Ogbomosho which was 76 kilometres, it was about 43 billion. The average was about 500 million and something per kilometre. There is nothing in there.”
The governor’s comments came after Mr Umahi, in a recent interview on Arise TV, sidestepped a question demanding he detail the project’s average cost per kilometre for the benefit of Nigerians. The minister, who was enraged by the question, explained that comparisons regarding cost per kilometre were technically inaccurate and immaterial.
“This project has not been designed. The soil report is not out. In this kind of project, you are not dealing with a cost per kilometre,” he said. “You can only talk about an average cost per kilometre because every kilometre differs in cost from another.”
Mr Umahi noted that significant work is ongoing simultaneously across five states (Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River), adding that the pace and coordination of the infrastructural project demonstrate Mr Tinubu’s determination to improve the transport network in the country.
